


Promise You'll Be Safe

by brahe



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Coda, M/M, Post-Episode: s02e05 Landing at Point Rain, declarations of love!, injuries and first aid, nothing graphic, they talk about feelings, this feels very ernest hemingway to me, without really talking about them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 07:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6647725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brahe/pseuds/brahe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An edited ending of The Clone Wars episode "Landing at Point Rain."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promise You'll Be Safe

**Author's Note:**

> I watched this episode last night and this wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is!
> 
> title adapted from Mars by Sleeping at Last

When he finds Obi-Wan sitting against the boxes, he knows something is wrong. Obi-Wan wouldn't sit out unless he physically couldn't fight. Anakin wants to ask, but he knows how Obi-Wan feels about appearing weak, and so he pretends everything is normal and that he's not bursting at the seams to make sure his old master is alright.

  
It isn't until the fighting's over that Anakin gets Obi-Wan alone. He's still resting against the boxes. Anakin slides down onto the ground beside him, and he reaches out to take Obi-Wan's hand from where its drumming against the dirt, wrapping it in both of his own. Obi-Wan sighs.

  
Anakin wants to know how he's feeling, where he's injured, and how he can help, but he doesn't want Obi-Wan's typical "I'm fine" response. He has a sneaking suspicion that's what the Jedi master told Cody.

  
"I need to..." Obi-Wan starts, eventually, but doesn't finish. Anakin understands, though he wish he didn't.

  
"Can you stand?"

  
He's surprised when Obi-Wan shakes his head.

  
"I've tried," he says, and shrugs, falsely casual. "But I can't."

  
His honesty has Anakin frozen. It had been so long since they'd told each other something without omission or fabrication or fictionalization.

  
"Okay," Anakin finds his voice again. Instead of offering Obi-Wan a hand, though, he questions him. "Where are you hurt? I want to help," he says. His eyes scan over Obi-Wan's body, but he doesn't know how much of the blood staining the cream robes is his and he can't see the bruises he knows he'd find.

  
"It's..." Obi-Wan begins, but he stops when Anakin meets his gaze. It's a powerful one, almost enough to stop his heart. Anakin clears his throat.

  
"Please don't lie to me," Anakin says, and it's so uncharacteristic that Obi-Wan stares. His voice is a quiet, gentle contrast to the noisy battlefield around them.

  
"I'm sorry." His apology is muffled by the hand that slides over his face, but Anakin hears it for what it is.

  
"I'm not sure what's wrong," Obi-Wan admits. "The ship was hit and we crashed with it." He pauses. "I need to speak with Mundi." There's a dismissal in his tone, but Anakin won't have it.

  
"Not until I fix you up," Anakin says. He pushes himself off the ground and helps Obi-Wan onto his feet. While he's still leaning on the boxes, Anakin gets a better once over.

  
"Look at you," Anakin whispers. Obi-Wan is staring at the ground. "You can barely stand."

  
He means no insult. It's a statement of surprise, worry, concern, frustration. Anakin steps closer, nearly close enough to make Obi-Wan lean away. He reaches out, using barely-there fingertips to trace the fresh cut across his cheek. Obi-Wan meets his gaze, then.

  
"I'm starting to think I need to tell you to be careful," Anakin adds. He doesn't mean it as a joke, and though Obi-Wan's mouth curves into a smirk, he knows Obi-Wan understands.  
Anakin steps beside Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan swings his arm around Anakin's neck. They walk slow, and Anakin doesn't miss the way Obi-Wan's free hand is clutched in a fist against his side.  
Anakin lets the side of his body press against Obi-Wan has much as he dares, and he twined his own fingers through the ones on Obi-Wan's hand hanging over his shoulder.  
He hates this part, hates that it's dangerous and they're right on the edge. Hates that one day he might have to face the reality of finding Obi-Wan worse off than this. There's a hundred things Anakin wants to tell him. He settles on whispering about the battle, lowering his voice even more as he talks about those around them.

  
Ahsoka bounds up, then, looking remarkably unharmed considering her and Anakin's part of the plan. Obi-Wan has no doubt, though, that Anakin took the brunt of whatever they faced to keep her safe. He had told him one night that he understood Obi-Wan himself a little differently now that he was seeing their relationship from a different angle.

  
"Master, how many?" she asks, enthusiastic. Anakin feels Obi-Wan's weight rest on him a little heavier. He looks at Ahsoka from over Obi-Wan.

  
"Not right now, Ahsoka," he warns. She looks ready to protest, but Anakin raises an eyebrow at her and she backs down. She walks next to them, and Anakin can feel Obi-Wan's embarrassment at his inability to walk by himself. Anakin sighs and tightens his hand around Obi-Wan's.

  
"Relax," he whispers, and presses his lips to Obi-Wan's temple. "It's okay."

  
He can feel Obi-Wan try to release the tension from his muscles, and he wishes there was more he could do.

  
They meet up with Cody and Mundi. Obi-Wan is immediately The General, summarizing the status report and explaining the next step on the in their mission. Anakin winds his arm around Obi-Wan's waist under the pretense of better support, and Obi-Wan leans into him. He's surprised, to say the least, that Obi-Wan is allowing this kind of closeness in front of Mundi and the clones, let alone encouraging it. Anakin knows there's something he's missing.

 

When Obi-Wan finishes the briefing, Anakin leads him towards the back of the ship. There's medical supplies there, and privacy.

  
"You're awfully quiet," Obi-Wan says.

  
"I'm worried about you," Anakin admits.

  
Obi-Wan says nothing as Anakin sits him down and goes in search of the first aid kit. Obi-Wan silently removes his armor and shrugs off his robes, investigating his own injuries before Anakin returns. There's a large bruise blossoming on his side, a violent blue contrasted greatly by his pale skin. His shoulder twinges when he twists, and there's a headache growing behind his eyes. He sighs and leans his head against the wall behind him.

  
Anakin touches his cheek. Obi-Wan blinks at him. He must have fallen asleep.

  
"Hey," Anakin says, and Obi-Wan falls in love with the way Anakin's voice comforts him like a blanket.

  
Obi-Wan clears his throat. "Hello."

  
"Take this," Anakin says, handing him a tablet. Obi-Wan swallows it and waits for the pain to recede.

  
"You're all patched up for now," Anakin tells him. Obi-Wan nods his thanks and Anakin watches him in silence. There's bags under his eyes and his expression is tired.

  
"What's wrong?" Anakin asks. "I don't mean your injuries."

  
Obi-Wan knows what he means, but he's not sure how to respond.

  
"I was worried," Obi-Wan starts. "We went down fast. I don't remember much of it."

  
Anakin squeezes his thigh here his hand his resting on it. He knows it will keep Obi-Wan awake tonight.

  
"Be careful," Obi-Wan tells him. "This is a dangerous place to fight." _I won't be able to keep you safe,_ he doesn't say, but Anakin hears it all the same.

  
"I'm more concerned about you," Anakin says. He wishes he could spend the time to make sure Obi-Wan properly heals, but he can't. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself."

  
It's a war, they both know that, and sometimes it feels like sentiment means nothing. They say it anyway in the hopes that the other will listen, will hear the words replay in his head in the moments before a great one, will remember that there's someone who cares about whether or not he makes it out. They say it to each other praying that it'll be enough to keep them alive, and maybe that's selfish, to wish for one person above all else in a war full of death and loss, but Anakin doesn't have it in him to care. Obi-Wan is a part of his soul, and how can it be selfish to want to protect something that keeps him alive?

  
"I promise. But only if you will, too."

  
Anakin presses his forehead against Obi-Wan's, eyes squeezed shut. A part of him is memorizing the way this feels, because it's starting to settle in how close he was to losing this today.  
"I promise."

 

And it's not a promise, in the usual sense. It's a promise to try, and that's good enough. Anakin knows Obi-Wan will forget about himself as soon as there's something that needs his attention, or his help, and Obi-Wan knows that Anakin will do every possible thing, and a few impossible ones, to do what he believes is right. It's part of why they fit so well together; neither cares for himself and worries too much about the other.

 

"I love you," Anakin says as he cleans up. Obi-Wan never says it back, but Anakin can't keep himself from telling him. And so Anakin pauses when Obi-Wan replies,

 

"I love you, too."

 

Anakin turns to him, surprise and joy fighting for control of his features. Obi-Wan reaches for Anakin’s hand, kissing him palm and then squeezing. It’s another kind of promise, one of his heart, and this one he can keep through everything. 

 

Ki-Adi approaches them, then, with Ahsoka, and the conversation shifts back to the war.

 

“I had 60 kills,” Ahsoka announces. “What about you, Master?”

 

“55,” Anakin says. Obi-Wan smirks and Anakin kicks him.

 

“I believe I take the win with 65,” Mundi says. Ahsoka laughs and Anakin smiles at Obi-Wan, his heart sitting a little higher in his chest. Tomorrow would bring them a whole new set of problems, but Anakin had always been good at living in the present, anyways. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure how to end this, but hopefully it's not that bad.


End file.
